Marketing on a Budget: 3 Ways to Boost Your Small Business

Strategies for marketing on a budget are a necessity for a small business. When operating on a shoestring budget, it’s important to find marketing channels that are accessible and maximize ROI.

This resource contains three low-cost, high-impact marketing techniques along with practical, actionable ways to implement them. One is as old as the Internet. Another is on the cutting edge of technological advancement. The third provides a direct line of communication with highly targeted audiences. All three are easy for a small or medium business (SMB) owner to invest in with limited budgets and marketing expertise.

1. Invest in Social Media

Social media has been and continues to be one of the most powerful forms of small and medium-business marketing in existence — and SMB leaders know it. According to data compiled and averaged by BusinessDasher, 93.79% of small businesses use social media in some form or another. Chances are you already are using it for your brand, too.

The key here is investing in the social media world in the right ways. As a small business, you can’t invest millions in paid ads. You also don’t want to spend hundreds of hours creating posts that no one ever sees.

If you’ve never optimized and organized your social media marketing, now’s the time to make a clear strategy. You can do this by:

Clearly defining your social media marketing goals as a business (lead gen, traffic, brand awareness, etc.)
Investing in the platforms your target audience demographics use the most.
Optimizing your social platforms by fully filling out all of your information.
Tracking social performance to see what resonates with and engages users.
Creating a content calendar to create meaningful, effective content that posts on a consistent schedule.

Social media is a virtually free connection directly to consumers. Make sure you’re making the most of it before you invest anywhere else.

2. Use AI as a Marketing Tool

When marketing on a budget, the key term here is “tool,” not “worker replacement.” Artificial intelligence isn’t ready to replace humans in most work scenarios (and it won’t be for a while). However, it can function as a dramatic time-saving and cost-cutting tool in an endless number of scenarios — and small and medium-sized business owners are catching onto the fact.

According to the small business management platform Thryv’s 2024 Small Business Index, “31% of small business owners are currently using AI, but 43% expect to use AI in 2025, a 38% year over year increase.”

If you want to market an SMB effectively, you have to use AI. Here’s how to integrate it:

Analyze your current marketing activities (be specific).
Look for content outlines, social media posts, and podcast transcripts that integrate AI easily.
Find tools that meet these needs, like ChatGPT, Thryv’s Online Presence Scanner, and Canva’s AI Image Generator.
Review your systems every quarter or even monthly to see where you can optimize or further integrate new AI solutions.

In a certain sense, AI is just another tool in the marketing on a budget toolbelt, but there’s no doubt that it’s become indispensable. Make sure you’re using it where you can.

3. Build (and Actually Use) Your Email List

Email marketing was one of the earliest digital marketing tools, and it remains one of the most effective options a quarter into the 21st century. Statista reports that 2024 email marketing revenue was above $9.5 billion, and its ROI remains unparalleled.

Many SMBs have thriving, growing email lists, too. And yet, they often leave these dormant or use them for nothing more than an occasional update or lifeless newsletter.

If you’re an SMB leader trying to grow your business, your email list should be at the center of your promotional strategy. As with social media, this requires efficiency and optimization, which you can accomplish by:

Curating your list through clear opt-in forms that lead to the right kind of leads signing up who actually want to hear what you have to say.
Creating compelling content that provides value to your readers and cultivates brand loyalty through things like early access to promotions and insider thought leadership.
Tracking key KPIs, such as open rate, click-through rate, and conversation rates, to see what kind of email formats resonate with your audience.

Investing in a consistent email marketing strategy can help you build and retain a core audience that can become essential to your small business’s ongoing success.